Method of bookbinding



Feb. 2,1937. F. BROWN 2,069,211

METHOD OF BOOKB INDING Filed March 15, 1955 fiW/zh 7b w "if q dw Patented Feb. 2, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2 Claims.

The present invention relates to the binding of books. In the present specification the term book binding and terms of similar meaning are intended to include the procedure and results of connecting sheets or leaves into a permanently connected assemblage (as distinguished from a loose leaf assemblage) with hinged connection between adjacent leaves at the back, whether or not such assemblage is also provided with a cover, and. whatever may be the nature of the cover when applied. In other words, the invention comprehends books whether bound in board covers (so called library books) or in pamphlet form, and includes also the assemblage of leaves independent of any covers.

The first essential of a book so characterized is that the leaves be secure. The second characteristic which is most important, if not absolutely essential, is that the book be capable of being opened flat in any part without injury to the binding, and of lying in flat opened condition on a table or other support without the aid of any means to hold the uppermost leaves from turning over. Other desirable qualities of a binding are that it shall remain strong and serviceable for as long a time as possible and permit rebinding of the book with minimum sacrifice of space from the inner margins of the pages.

The binding which I have invented and which forms the subject of the present specification possesses all of these. essentials and desirable qualities, and may be employed repeatedly and many times in rebinding injured books. The invention comprises both a new method of bookbinding and the product of such method; the essentials of which can best be explained with reference to a description of a specific example. In the following specification therefore, with reference to the drawing, I will describe the steps of my preferred method and alternative equivalents of some of the steps thereof, together with characteristics of the resulting product.

In the drawing, wherein the successive steps of the method are shown,-

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a stack of sheets or leaves prepared for binding;

Fig. 2 is a similar view of a secondary collection of sheets or leaves, including the fly leaves of the book, adapted to be applied to the stack shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a similar view showing the stack of Fig. 1 assembled with two collections of the character shown in Fig. 2 after application of binding glue to the rear edge of the stack;'

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3 but showing the application thereto of binding strips of fibrous material;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary sectional view on an enlarged scale, taken on line 44 of Fig. 5;

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5 showing the step of placing the outermost leaf in final position with respect to the stack of leaves; I

Fig. '7 is a fragmentary end view of a book bound in accordance with this invention, complete with board covers;

Fig. 8 is a sectional end view of a book also bound according to the invention but in pamphlet form and provided with a flexible cover united to the back of the collection of leaves.

Like reference characters designate the same parts wherever they occur in all the figures.

The first step is to form the sheets or leaves of the book into a stack a, as shown in Fig. 1. Preferably each leaf is single sheet; that is, if four, eight or more pages of the book are printed on the same sheet, the sheet is preferably trimmed after folding before the binding procedure is carried out. However, folded sheets, such as those containing maps, diagrams or other illustrations larger than a single page, or larger than two pages and not intended to be cut at the top or bottom edges of the book, may be included without trimming.

Such stack of sheets or leaves is cut or slitted at the rear edge without removal of any material. The slits so formed are shown at b in Fig. 1. They may be made by a sharp knife, or a gang of knives, operated manually or mechanically and extend. but a short distance inward from the edges of the sheets. Without intending to state a precise limit of penetration, I may say that a depth of one-sixteenth of an inch, or somewhat less, is sufficient, but it may be greater without harm. The number of slits is preferably in the order of three or four to the inch. Preferably also the cuts extend inward at different angles to the edge of the stack. For instance, the cut shown at b in Fig. l is inclined toward the bottom edge of stack, the next cut I) is perpendicular to the edge, the third cut 21 is inclined toward the top edge, the fourth cut b is perpendicular; and so on in repeated series. The slits so provided permit penetration of binding glue to a limited extent into the sheets, to form interlocks with the binding material afterwards applied, while at the same time leaving the full length of the paper sheets available for glued union with the backing material.

For books which are to be bound in hard covers, such books being commonly known in the trade as library books, the fly leaves and preferably also a few of the adjacent leaves are specially reinforced. A group of such leaves with the reinforcement is shown in Fig. 2. A tough paper sheet folded to form two leaves 0 and d is connected with a few (in the order of five or six) leaves e of the book and with a reinforcing strip of fabric 1. Such connection may be effected by a stitched seam g as shown, or by glue applied to a narrow marginal zone of the leaves e and reinforcing strip f. In either case the folded sheet c, d is glued to the reinforcing strip at some distance away from the seam g, or the equivalent glued connecting zone. Such assemblages are placed on top and beneath the stack a with the folded sheets and reinforcing strips outermost in either case. Their rear edges are matched with the rear edge of the stack a. and all are preferably out or slashed in the same operation. For books which are bound in pamphlet form, or indeed for any books in which such special reinforcement is not needed or desired, the sheet collections of the character just described may be omitted and the entire binding process carried on with the stack a alone.

The stack a, with or without the subsidiary assemblages, is then glued on the back. For this purpose I may use any glue which is sufllciently tough and flexible for bookbinding. I have successfully used a mixture composed of one half brown glue and one half flexible glue, 1. e., the same glue as usually used for attaching the back or lining to books, of the same consistency as commonly used by book binders, and applied medium hot. After application this glue coating is brushed firmly with a flexible wire brush sufliciently to drive'it into the cuts b to some ex-- tent, but not harshly enough to tear or seriously abrade the paper. The coating of glue thus applied is shown with exaggerated thickness at h in Fig. 3. While the glue layer h is still wet, and preferably in about flve minutes or so after it has been treated with the wire brush, an outer layer or film z of white padding flexible glue at lukewarm temperature, is spread over it. This also is a glue commonly used by book binders, and it is here applied in preferably the consistency generally used.

Immediately thereafter a sheet, strip or layer k of strong and flexible fibrous material is applied to the wet glue. This latter is a vital and essential constituent of my new binding. I have used tanned lamb skin and Canton flannel for this binding layer, applied with the flesh side, or respectively, the napped side next to the glue. Lamb skin and Canton flannel are not the only materials suitable for this purpose, but they illustrate the characteristics required of the material. That is, it must be tough, strong and very flexible and have firmly united and numerous fibers on one face at least, capable of being more or less enveloped by the glue so as to effect a strong bond. After its application, the binding strip k is moistened with water on the outside in order to cause it to shrink equally with the glue when the latter dries and avoid puckers and wrinkles.

Before the next application of adhesive and reinforcement, the backing layer is preferably slashed crosswise at intervals of two inches more a or less in order to sever or weaken it to the extent that if any part of it should accidentally be torn away the balance of it will remain and] continue serving its function of binding the leaves together. The cuts so made are shown in Fig.4 at Z.

Finally a thin film m of flexible glue, as white proximate register with the stack of sheets.

padding glue or brown flexible glue if preferred, is applied to the back of the binding strip and a sheet or strip n of cheese cloth, called super in this art, is secured by the glue.

The book, if made of a stack of leaves such as the stack a is now complete ready for the cover. A paper or other flexible cover 0, such as shown -in Fig. 8, may be applied by having its middle part glued directly to the super layer 12. This completes the book in pamphlet form. But when the reinforcement of the outermost leaves as shown in Fig. 2 is provided, the reinforcing strip f is doubled back on itself, as shown in Fig. 6, and the folded leaves 0, d brought back into ap- The fold p then produced in the reinforcing strip is glued down to the underlying part of the strip, in such a position that the fold comes flush or approximately so with the bound edges of the sheet stack. This is done with respect to the reinforcement at both sides of the book. The boards of the cover, one of which is shown at q in Fig. '1, are glued to the outermost leaves 0 at both sides of the book, the cover back 1' then crossing the back of the book free from attachment to the leaves or to the binding, in the manner usual with bound books of the so called library type. But before this is done the back of the uncovered book may be rounded in accordance with common practice.

It is to be understood that while the foregoing description is that of my preferred method, various modifications and departures may be followed within the scope of the protection claimed. Thus, for instance, the slits b may be varied as to their spacing, their depth of penetration, and the directions at which they extend in from the edge. Or the strip 11. of super may be omitted, although this is not recommended. On the other hand, in the making of large, thick and heavy books, two or more backing strips or layers such as the strip may be applied one over the other and glued together in order to give added tensile strength'in this essential part of the binding. Also other descriptions of glue or adhesive than those named may be used. I have here described qualities of glue now known and used in the bookbinding art, which are the best for my purpose of which I have present knowledge. It is highly important that the glue be both strong and flexible so that it will bend without cracking when the book is opened, and to enhance flexibility the glue is applied in thin coatings. But I am not restricted to the glues named and contemplate using other glues which may be produced or found to have equal or superior qualities and are otherwise available.

The bookbinding method herein described and the books produced by its employment have superior qualities of strength, permanence and ease of manipulation. No stitching or stapling of any sort is required, the elimination of which reduces the expense of the binding. All of the leaves are attached with equal security, but at the extreme edge only, which gives a perfect hinge effect allowing the book to be opened fiat at any point and to lie open without need of the uppermost leaves being held to prevent turning over. At the same time the bond between leaves and binding is stronger than that, for instance, of books. composed of signatures stitched together and in which only the outersheet of each signature is glued to the backing. This is due to the bond between each sheet along its entire rear edge and the binding sheet k constituted by the flexible glue layer embedding the surface fibers of the binding strip and adhering to the entire edge of the leaf, and to the thin, flexible tentacles of glue entering the slits b.

This method is applicable not only to making new books, but to rebinding old and broken books. It may be applied to such books which have previously been rebound as long as any margin remains at the back edges of the leaves, for the bonding means does not encroach on these margins and the ability of the book to be opened fiat exposes the printing all the way to the margins. It is less expensive than any of the rebinding methods heretofore used. But the strength of a book so rebound is as great as that of a new book and is limited only by the tensile strength of the paper.

A factor giving great additional strength to the leaves nearest to the covers of library books is furnished by the reinforcing strips f and the supplemental connections of the outer leaves 6 to such strips and to one another. After being folded back and the rear fold glued down, as described, and when the cover has been glued to the outer leaf of the folded sheet, the rear fold 7: makes a fabric hinge which is securely attached to the contiguous leaves of the book and, through them, to the rear binding. And the outer half dozen or so of leaves, which are ordinarily subjected to the hardest strains in the use of a book, are also secured more strongly than the corresponding leaves in the ordinary commercial binding. At the same time, the step of securing the cover, by simply gluing it to the outermost leaf 0, is performed more easily, quickly and economically than the usual cover-applying method. But it may be combined, it still greater strength is desired, with the old time of 'cover connector which consists of a strip of cloth glued to the back of the book and of a width so much greater than the thickness of the book as to furnish extensions, like hinge leaves which are glued to the covers.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. The method of bookbinding which consists in placing the leaves of the book in a stack, applying to one or both faces of the stack a collection of leaves and a reinforcing fabric strip secured together adjacent to one edge together with an outer leaf secured to the reinforcing strip at a distance from such edge, the secured edges of such collection of leaves and reinforcing strip being registered with an edge of the before named stack of leaves, incising said edge of the leaves, uniting a fibrous binding strip to such incised edges by an adhesive in liquid state of a character such that it penetrates the incisions so produced and upon drying is tough and flexible, folding back the reinforcing strip and attached outer leaf into substantial register with the bound edges of the leaves, and uniting thefolded over part of the reinforcing strip to the fixed part of the strip.

2. The method of bookbinding which consists in placing the leaves of the book in a stack, incising the back edges of the leaves so stacked, applying liquid glue to the incised edges of the leaves, placing a strip of fibrous binding material on the film of glue so applied, slashing the binding strip crosswise, and gluing a strip of super to the outer side of the binding strip.

FRANK BROWN. 

